Presidential 2016 race

WASHINGTON: California is determined to force 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls to make some hard choices.The nation's most populous liberal state has moved its presidential nominating contest to early in the 2020 calendar, a shift its leaders hope will give it maximum impact on the selection of a Democratic nominee and push candidates to address progressive issues such as climate change.The reshuffling means California voters, who can cast ballots weeks before primary election day, will be helping to determine a nominee at the same time as those in traditional early primary states such as New Hampshire."It's a big deal," said Ben Tulchin, a San Francisco-based consultant who worked as a pollster for Democratic U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign. "The traditional schedule had smaller states, more affordable states, retail politics. California is not like that."The shift to so-called "Super Tuesday" in March 2020 will change how campaigns structure their efforts … [Read more...] about California could have seismic impact on 2020 Democratic presidential race

BUENOS AIRES: One US president talked softly, the other harangues. One built international coalitions, the other tears them up. One was a war hero, the other avoided battle.One was called George HW Bush and the other, Donald Trump, is in the White House today.Trump was among the first of present and past world leaders to praise the life of the 41st president, who died Friday in Houston at 94.But even Trump's gracious overnight statement highlighted an undeniable - and uncomfortable - contrast between the man being remembered and the man doing the eulogizing."Hope," "humble," "quiet," "unflappable," "inspired." Words like these dotted the five paragraphs sent from Buenos Aires, where Trump was attending the G20 summit.They sounded foreign in Washington's current, brutal political landscape - still more so in the White House.Bush, who married his teenaged sweetheart, certainly lived a life far removed from the scandals that have dogged Trump, who notably stands accused of paying off … [Read more...] about George H.W. Bush and Trump: A study in presidential contrasts

Sao Paulo, Brazil - Allegations of a dirty tricks campaign on WhatsApp dominated Brazil's presidential election race on Thursday, turning attention to social media manipulation following abuses uncovered in the last US election and Britain's Brexit referendum. Trailing leftist candidate Fernando Haddad accused the far-right frontrunner, Jair Bolsonaro, of "illegal" electoral tactics after a report that companies were poised to unleash a flood of WhatsApp messages attacking him and his Workers Party. Bolsonaro denied the allegation, tweeting that the Haddad's Workers Party "isn't being hurt by fake news, but by the TRUTH." The exchange happened 10 days before a run-off election that polls predict Bolsonaro -- a bluff, internet-savvy, pro-gun polemicist often compared to US President Donald Trump -- will likely win comfortably. Ordinary Brazilians told AFP they got much of their election information through WhatsApp. They said some in their families or entourage swallowed some … [Read more...] about News
WhatsApp dirty tricks alleged in Brazil presidential race

Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte. Reuters The parent company of Cambridge Analytica helped put Philippines’ leader Rodrigo Duterte into office after already influencing voters in dozens of campaigns across the globe, according to media reports and information pulled from the firm’s website. Strategic Communications Laboratories, or SCL Group, which owns the political consultancy at the centre of a Facebook data harvesting scandal linked to the 2016 US presidential race, boasted on its website that it helped get Duterte elected in 2016 by rebranding him as a tough crime fighter. The company removed the website content about the 2016 Philippine election, however, archived versions are still visible on the internet. Though SCL did not identify its Philippine client by name, the brief pointed clearly to former Davao City mayor Duterte, who was one of the six candidates in the 2016 race. “In the run up to national elections the incumbent client was widely … [Read more...] about How Cambridge Analytica’s parent company helped ‘man of action’ Rodrigo Duterte win the 2016 Philippines election

WASHINGTON—Thirteen Russians, including a businessman close to Vladimir Putin were charged Friday in an elaborate plot to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election through social media propaganda, aimed in part at helping Republican Donald Trump and harming the prospects of his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.The federal indictment, brought by the office of special counsel Robert Mueller, represents the most direct allegation to date of illegal Russian meddling during the election. It says Russians created bogus internet postings, posed online as American political activists and fraudulently purchased advertisements — all with the goal of swaying political opinion during the bitterly contested race.Trump claimed vindication, noting in a tweet that Russian interference efforts alleged in the indictment began in 2014 — “long before I announced that I would run for President.”“The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign … [Read more...] about Special counsel charges Russian troll farm, 13 individuals over meddling to help Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign